knapp



Patented March 2,1875.

all. ff

H. F. KNAPP'. Means for Raising Sunken Vassels,I Spc.

THE GRAPHIC C0.PHOTO.LTH.39&41 PARK PMGEJLY.

Mmmm:

rNo.160,44\.

UNITED. STATESA PATENT FFICE.

HENRY F. KNAPP, OF NEV YORK, N. Y.

IMPROVEMENT IN MEANS FOR RAilitlGl SUNKEN VESSELS, cc.

Specification forming part of Letters Patent No. l 60,441, dated March2, 1875; application filed May 12, 1874.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, HENRY F. KNAPP, of the city, county, and State ofNew York, have invented an Improvement in Means for Raisin g or FloatingWrecks and Stranded or Sunken Vessels, of which the following is aspecification:

This invention relates to that method or means for raising or oatingwrecks and stranded or sunken vessels described in Letters Patent N o.148,714, which were issued to me March 17, 1874, and in which what Iterm hydro-pneumatic jacks having full open bottoms are used, said jacksbeing sunk or deposited'alongside the vessel, with the edges of theirfull open bottoms resting on the sand or mud, and the air or water beingexhausted from them to insure the projection of the jacks into the sand,and so that, after the same have been suitably secured by liftingdevices to the Wreck or vessel, they are made to lift the lat ter by airbeing compressed or forced into the jacks, which, at least in theirearly operation, have the sand or mud for their fulcrum or necessaryresistance. p

This invention consists in a novel construction of the hydro-pneumaticjacks with a rising and falling or movable bottom to prevent the escapeof compressed air within the jacks through the sand or mud on which theyrest when lifting also to prevent the escape of air when floating orcarrying the wreck in a rough or undulating sea. Said movable bottom maybe provided with a relief or safety valve.

The invention also consists in the construction of the jacks in upperand lower sections, bolted or clamped to each other externally, and theone or both of which may be used accordingly as it is required tooperate in shoal or deep water.

The invention furthermore consists in acombination, with the movablejack-bottom, of under supports and pins or guides operating to brace'thesides of the jack.

Again, the invention consists in a combination, with the jacks or tubeconnected therewith, of a slide-valve constructed to alternate.

communication, as described, with the eX- haust and inlet branches orhose attached to the operating-pump, for the purpose of changing thedirection of the current to and from the jacks.

The invention also embraces a perforated water-distributer arrangedaround the bottoms of the jacks, for the purpose of softening alongitudinal sectional elevation of a double' or two-section jack havingmy improvements applied to it. Fig. 2 is a transverse vertical sectionof the same. Fig. 3 is a plan thereof. Fig. 4 is a side sectional viewof the slide- 4valve used to change the direction of the current throughthejack. Fig. 5 is a plan of the same. Fig. 6 is a 'diagram inillustration of a mode of working a series of jacks by means of a hoseor tube common to all.

A A is the jack, made in sections, the one arranged above the other; butthe single upper section A only may be used, if desired, accordingly asit is required to operate in shoal or deep and smooth or rough water;but when the two sections A A are used, then the same are connectedexternally by clamps or screwbolts and packing, substantially asrepresented in Figs. 1 and 2 ofthe drawing. Said jack is tted with aloose or rising and falling bottom, B, which, when the jack is sunk ordeposited to its place, rests on the sand or mud, while the edges of thejack cut or enter into the sand, and which prevent the air compressedinto the jacks from escaping through the sand or mud when the jacks aremaking the lift; also prevent the air from escaping through the waterwhen the jacks are floating or carrying the wreck in a rough sea.

Said movable bottom B may be tted with a safety-valve, b, controlled bya spring or otherwise, to provide for yany escape of compressed air overand above the pressure the jacks are calculated to bear. Likewise it isdesirable to combine with the movable or rising and falling bottom Bunder supports and pins or projections d attached to the body of thejack, and arranged to enter pockets e in the bottom B, whereby themovable bottom is not only sustained when the jack is charged withcompressed air, but the sides of the jack are braced by the pins orprojections d hooking or fitting into the pockets e. Attached to thejacks at their sides or ends are adjustable screw tu gs or bolts f,provided with eyes, through which the lifting-chains g pass, saidadjusting devices preferably being arranged vertically and obliquely atboth or opposite ends of each jack.

By means of these adjustable screw-tugs or bolts increased facility isafforded for manipulating the lifting chains or cables, and for eqalizing or properly distributing the Weight or lifting strain thrown upon thejacks.

For operation, in combination with these outside lifting-chains g, oreven alone in deep water, there may be used an internal or centrallifting-chain, h, arranged to pass through a hole, 7c, in the lid orcover of the jack, and it may be through a downwardly-extending socket,lc', but which passes through a hinged or otherwise suitably-constructedclamp, C C, provided with rubber or other water-tight packings l l, andwhich, as draft is made upon the chain h in a downward direction toeffect the lift, causes the clamp `and their packings to hermeticallyclose or seal the hole k, but which, on a reverse action or adjustmentof the chain h taking place, readily admits of said chain being drawn upthrough or between the clamp C C, which acts, in a measure, like thesocket 7c', to prevent the escape of air from inside of jacks whenmaking the lift.

D is a removable brace-lift, for dividing the strain when the jacks areused in raising or floating the wreck. E is a perforatedWaterdistributer, arranged around the bottoms of the lifting-jacks, andconnected with a pump above by means of a pipe, m. for the purpose cfsoftening the sand or mud, in which the jacks are required to beembedded, to facilitate the embedding of the same. F is the pipe, withattached hose G, by which the air is alternately exhausted andcompressed into the jack, the several jacks used to effect a lift eitherbeing connected by branches o and connecting hose, or by a general hosecommunieating with the several jacks, as represented in Fig. 6.Connected with the hose G, by which the' exhausting or forcing currentis transmitted to or from the jacks, is a vibrating or oscillatingtubular slide-valve, H, capable of adjustment by hand, so as toestablish connection either with the inlet-pipe or hose I of the pumpused to work the jacks, or the exhaust-pipe or hose J thereof, thusproviding in a very simplemanner for the exhaustion of the jacks andcompression of the air therein to produce a lifting force, as required.

When the water is not over twenty-five feet depth, or thereabout, asteam-jet injector or ejector may be substituted for the pump to operatethe jacks.

When the jacks are used to lift a vessel entirely out of the water, asin the case of a drydock, they should be built of larger size and incompartments.

What l claim as new, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. rI he jacks constructed of upper and lower sections A A', fittedtogether and forming a single structure, substantially as described, andfor the purposes specified.

2. The full open bottom jacks, constructed with rising and falling ormovable bottoms B, essentially as shown and described.

3. The combination, with the open bottom jacks and their movable bottomsB, of the lower supports or pins d, and the holes or pockets e in themovable jack bottoms, substantially as and for the purpose herein setforth.

4. The combination, with the hydro-pneumatic lifting-jacks, oftheattached perforated water-distributer E arranged around the bottoms ofthe jacks, essentially as described.

5. The slide-valve H, in combination with the inlet and exhaust pipes orhose I J, and tubular connection G of the jack, substantially asdescribed.

HENRY F. KNAPP.

W'itnesses:

MrcHAnL RYAN, FRED. HAYNEs.

